Ok, I’ve backed myself into a corner. We need to replace our destroyed A/V equipment within the next 13 days before my claims period ends. I figure much may have changed since whenever I previuosly asked about this.
At any rate:
$1,300 is what we can get compensated for (depreciation).
We sit a max of 13-feet away from the tv.
13 days left to get this ordered (well, prolly just 12 by the time anyone reads this). So waiting for sales isn’t going to be an option.
We will never be able to afford a different tv with our limited incomes so I need to choose something that will be a great long-term value and not die. Suggestions? Thanks! :-)
I really don’t want to go DLP with the price of bulbs being as high as they are (they’re like $200+ aren’t they)? That kind of extra cost is something we can’t afford.
I guess maybe we’d be better of moving the entertainment center forward towards the couch (mean it’s not against the wall anymore).
For myself I’m most concerned with color clarity, blacks/greys, and how it handles (up-converts) lower definitions.
jpinard – go check out the stock at Costco. The Vizio LCDs/plasmas generally give you really good value (and picture) for the $$$. The 47" 1080p LCD should be $1200 (+tax).
(If you don’t have a membership, ask for a visitor’s pass; if you see one you like, and you don’t want to pony up for the yearly membership, drop me a PM and I’ll meet you there sometime so’s you can buy it on mine :)
I have a 42" 1080P Vizio LCD and so far so good. The only downside is that while it has tons of hdmi ports it only has 1 component. In general, when buying an HDTV remember to look into the inputs before you buy it, they’ve all got different amounts and types.
The built in QAM tuner is solid, I get a great OTA signal.
I’m not a real HDTV snob, though. While I can tell the difference from a sony and a visio side by side, I don’t have them side by side in my house so I don’t care.
Nope, many (most?) newer Samsungs DLPs use LEDs instead of the traditional lamps, and they are supposed to last a lot longer. Some claims I have seen say the life of the TV, but I wouldn’t hold my breath for that.
But even the traditional bulb TVs are pretty good. My bulb in my Samsung was going on 3 years before I changed it, and I changed it because I thought it was going out, but it turned out to be a mirror problem. The bulb was only $110 shipped from the Samsung reseller, and now I have a spare bulb.
With that said, as much trouble as this Samsung set has been for me, they’d be hard pressed to get me to buy another one. When it works, it’s beautiful. DLP good. Samsung meh.
One thing: I had a LCD shipped to me before and it arrived broke. Couldn’t tell until it was powered up and then you could tell it had broken picture elements inside. It looked like modern art… but no picture!
Yea, everyone came in to watch the opening ceremonies of the Olympics on my 42" Vierra 1080p Plasma. It just looks better. I hate watching movies/tv anywhere else.
Bought my Grandparents a 720p 37" Toshiba, and it’s horrible. Colors are widly off, washed out, looks 10x worse than it did in-store. I’ve tried screwing around with the color settings, but there is no RBG adjustment, just “tint” and temperature.
OK, I’ve narrowed it down to these four. I’m not sure what’s more important (I’m guessing brightness and contrast use different measurements between LCD and plasma)?
Two things worry me about the Plasma. The energy usage, and the fact Panasonic states you constantly lose color/brightness over time and it’s unavoidable. 100,000 hours is the point in time where you’ll have 1/2 the color/brightness of its first day.
Concern about LCD is duller blacks, greys, colors, and poorer viewing angles. Also unknown what that 60,000 hours bulb life exactly means.
Contrast ratios as specified by the manufacturers are meaningless invented numbers since there’s no standard for measuring them. Visit trustworthy hardware review sites to find out the actual contrast of the display you’re interested in.
Yeah, don’t get caught up in contrast ratio stuff. The picture on either one of those plasmas is going to be lovely. And 100,000 hours is 8 hours of TV a day for 34 years. Viewing angle and response time will be equal to or better than the LCDs.
